We are swimming in soup, fellow citizens. We are really,
truly, genuinely in the soup here. No joke.

If you want stunning physical, visible evidence, get
one of those new 1,000,000 candlepower rechargeable flashlights. Yes,
that's right--one MILLION candlepower!--probably equivalent to 5000 watts.
What a 'chem-tool' ! Truly, you'll get a LOT of bang for your buck with
this one. Not only is it sturdy, fully portable, lights a building up
1/4 mile away, AND recharges from wall AC or car battery -- but it is UNDER
$50! (Isn't technology wonderful?) Called the 'Q-Beam' by Brinkmann. $49.99.
Walmart, camping section.

Charge it up fully (18 hours) , then take it outside
on a clear night, point it straight up, and...turn... it...on...

The beam instantly becomes a Jedi-warrior 'light sabre'
-- it is visible from 1/2" above the bulb in a column up to at least
20 feet high. (By the way, there is no mist tonight -- I can see some
stars. ) The REASON the light beam IS visible quickly and appallingly becomes
apparent when you look at it up v-e-r-y close. Our immediate atmosphere
is more like soup than air. If you're really nearsighted, great, just
take your glasses off. If you aren't, then get a magnifying glass or STRONG
(like +3 diopter) reading glasses.

The light beam through the air seems to behave like the
'Tyndall Effect' known to colloidal silver makers, where you can judge
the strength of a seemingly clear solution of colloidal silver by shining
a small flashlight beam through it. The beam won't show up in plain distilled
water because there is nothing to reflect off of. But after enough silver
goes into ionic solution, then the beam becomes visible, because it is
reflecting off of particles too tiny for the eye to see.

There is no wind, yet tiny particles are whizzing by.
Millions and millions of them. Gazillions. The ones we usually can't
see except high up in bright direct sunlight. The ones the planes are
spraying...that make up the chemdome, and chemscum when they are up really
high. But, these are right in your face. The surprise is no longer that
so many people are getting sick with asthma and respiratory problems --
the surprise is that we aren't ALL sick unto death. (What a marvel the
human body is, bearing up under such outrageous assault...)

You can look up the column of light and see 'sparkles'
zip by once in a while. (There are lots of bugs out there, too, of course.
If you have seen the 'sparkles' in the sun, you can sort of tell the difference.)
Within the first three minutes, I even caught a 'sparkle'!! I followed
one down, because you can actually CHASE them with a light like this, unlike
the daytime when once they leave the direct sun, they become un-visible.
I caught it on the smooth flat glass front plate of the light. It stuck.
Sort of like badminton :-) Backlit so strongly, it looked like a whitish,
semi- transparent irregular bit of plastic, like a tiny flake from a stretched
out trash bag. . Flattish, about 1/3 the size of a pea.

I wasn't expecting this serendipity, and I did not have
collecting tools. I quickly got tweezers and a film canister. But, in
trying to move it, I lost it. RATS! But, it CAN BE DONE!! (I would use
sticky scotch tape to pick it up next time, and mark on the other side
of the tape just where it is, in case it dissolves.)